Green virtue signaling is no substitute for an energy industry.

The Europeans decided to embrace green energy at the cost of outsourcing their actual energy needs to Russia and Ukraine. After a war of over 200 days, tens of thousands dead, skyrocketing energy prices, they are slowly realizing that green virtue signaling is no substitute for an energy industry.

The United States is doing the same thing under Biden. Except that we’re not dependent on Russia for our energy (except in the nuclear industry). Instead after shutting down energy production, Biden has to run around with one hand extended to the likes of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to lower gas prices. Even as his administration continues suppressing domestic production and blaming high prices on “greedy companies” who suddenly got greedy when he took office, but were humble and self-effacing socialists under Trump.

After the latest shrug, Biden, Bernie Sanders, AOC and the other lefty Dems are furious and demanding that we do something about Saudi Arabia. They keep mentioning Jamal Khashoggi, as if the death of a Qatari agent and old pal of Osama bin Laden were more serious than 9/11. (That it is to them, ought to tell you everything about their loyalty to this country)

The Saudis do have a bunch of oil that we helped them locate and that they then nationalized while our government compensated U.S. companies. It was a bad deal, but the new deal was that the Saudis kept prices stable in exchange for getting control of our regional foreign policy. This was arguably a worse deal. Post 9/11, which the Saudis had their hands in, the Bush and Obama administrations set that deal on fire. Bush overthrew Saddam, whom the Saudis feared, but also knew was preventing Iran from breaking out. Obama went one better by going into the terrorist business in such a big way that the Saudis ran in the other direction, tossed away support for the Muslim Brotherhood and became actively hostile to some terror groups.

(This resulted in a struggle with Qatar and the death of Jihadist ally Jamal Khashoggi.)

Obama also nuked the deal with the Saudis by making one with Iran instead. Biden keeps trying to restart the deal, offers Iran sanctions relief and then asks the Saudis for a hand.

Shockingly, this goes over badly.

The Saudi side of this is pretty clear. We’re to stabilize the region and check Iran if we want lower prices. The Biden side assumes that the Saudis will accept the same happy talk about legitimizing Iran’s nuclear program that Jewish Democrats are willing to snort at J Street.

Not happening.

We can have cheap Saudi oil, or we can drill our own. Or we can live in that same fantasy world in which our energy needs will be met by erratic and inefficient wind and solar systems that the Europeans were living in until Putin’s tanks showed up.

The Biden administration, the Democrats and its media allies are going through door three. They also want the Saudis to bail them out while they provide Iran with sanctions relief. When the Saudis fail to do that, they want to threaten the Saudis with the withdrawal of military support in the face of a growing Iranian threat. That might be more of a threat if Biden weren’t actively in bed with the Iranians.

Adults don’t function this way, but this is a government of occasionally senile petulant children who want things their way, but have no sense of reality or give and take, who understand how to seize power, but don’t understand the limitations of that power because they have been cosseted by the boundaries of liberal democracies among whose political norms leftists look tough. They’re out of their depth, in over their heads and they’re taking us down with them.

Article posted with permission from Daniel Greenfield